Sega Forever
| platform = iOS, Android | status = Active | website = }} Sega Forever is a service from the Japanese video game developer Sega for re-releasing past games from the company on modern platforms. The service was first made available for iOS and Android devices on June 22, 2017, with plans to potentially come to other platforms in the future. Premise The service is a means for Sega to re-release their previously developed video games on iOS and Android-based platforms. While Sega stated that mobile devices were the initial focus, the service may also expand to other platforms in the future, such as PC or video game consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The service will be free to play, with games possessing in-game advertisements that can be removed with a purchase for each game. Game types vary between releases—while some games will be direct ports, others will be emulated versions of the originals. Similar to Nintendo's strategy of using mobile games and apps to attract attention to their console games, Sega will release titles not only to promote console games, but also to monitor game usage and buying and use it as a metric to determine which intellectual properties to make new games with in the future as well. The end-goal is to eventually create a service similar to Netflix, instead using Sega-based video games. Software The initial wave of games were from Sega's Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Gear, and Master System platforms, although they plan on adding games from the SG-1000, Sega Saturn, and Dreamcast platforms as well. During the testing phases of the system, Saturn and Dreamcast games did not perform satisfactorily, though Sega has on-going R&D efforts working on improving them in hopes of future release. Games such as Panzer Dragoon are being considered for the service, but could not be successfully emulated in the testing phase, meaning that such a release would hypothetically require a lengthy porting process instead. Sega is also open to releasing games that had not previously had English localizations, such as the Yuji Naka-designed game, Girl's Garden. Games have new features added, such as leaderboards and cloud saves, and touchscreen controls, though they also have controller support as well. Games are also playable offline without an internet connection. Five games were available at launch, with more games being added over time. In March 2018, Sega announced their intention on releasing native ports, rather than emulated, for the service throughout 2018. Sega also stated that while they would continue to release emulated games, the change to primarily making native ports will result in fewer new games being released overall. At the same time, Sega announced that games on the service had been downloaded more than 40 million times. List of games † = Native ports as opposed to being emulated Reception Reception at launch was mixed, with critics noting that the service had a number of technical issues, mostly regarding the frame rate. Sega later resolved most of the issues in a July 2017 update. References External links * Category:Sega Category:Video game compilations Category:Online services Category:Mobile applications Category:Android (operating system) software Category:IOS software Category:2017 software Category:Sonic the Hedgehog Category:Virtua Tennis (series) Category:Phantasy Star Category:Crazy Taxi